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The Little Veela that Could
Chapter Three: Blood of the Enemy
June 24th, 1995
"So... on my whistle, Cedric!" Said Bagman. "Three – two – one –"
He gave a short blast oh his whistle, and Cedric removed his hands away from Victor's and Fleur's shoulders before walking into the maze. The maze itself was dark and silent. Whether by magic or by the nature of such a tall, thick hedge wall, nearly all lights and exterior noises were blocked from following the young man to his destiny.
Rather than tie up his wand casting Lumos, Cedric began throwing bluebell flames into the hedge face. God bless Hermione; it was her idea.
Just as he came to the first fork in the maze, Cedric heard Bagman's whistle blow a second time. Victor was now in the maze with him. Cedric cast another bluebell flame at the wall splitting his path and stopped walking.
The first fork in the maze. Their agreed upon meeting place. From here, the three Champions would move forward together.
Hermione had been so touched when Fleur told her of their plan to honor the one Missing Champion that she insisted on giving all three Champions tear stained good luck hugs and kisses. Let the rest of the crowd make of that what they will, but Hermione couldn't bear the thought of loosing anyone else, not for some pretty cup and a bit of money.
Blast-Ended Skrewts, odd mists with odder effects, even a sphinx. Not once did the three Triwizard Champions split up to seek their own way through. Cedric, Victor and Fleur would take the cup together or they would not take it at all.
It was only when the three were mere steps away from the end goal, the Triwizard Cup itself, that the greatest threat almost caused Fleur to follow Harry into the afterlife.
To be fair, it was a pretty cup. The rich detailing and elegant curves drew three pairs of eyes just long enough for an immense spider, perhaps one of Aragog's clan, to leap into the small clearing around the final prize and slam the Veela Champion face down into soft grass.
Acting mostly on instinct, both male Champions whipped their wands up and cast whatever came to mind. Cedric's Reductor Curse bounced off of the spiders magic resistant carapace but Victor's Bone-Breaking Curse struck right in between the large spider's many eye sockets. The hit caused a shower of black gore to spray out of the beast's face as the spider shrieked in pain.
Fleur regained her footing while Victor and Cedric continued to hurl their most destructive curses at the monster's body, forcing the wounded arachnid to scramble back over a hedgerow and out of sight.
"Well, boys. While I like to get my ass pinched sometimes, I zink zat next time ze one to do it should not be quite so big or 'airy, yes?" Cedric snorted.
As their hearts collectively began to slow, the three Champions surrounded the Triwizard Cup. Each raised their left hand above the trophy, fingers touching in a ring. For a few seconds, the three teens scanned hedge tops and path openings behind their co-Champions in a bout of spider induced paranoia.
"Of course... now ve look over backs..." Cedric snorted again at Victor's special brand of humor and a smile began to work its way up Fleur's delicate lips.
The Tournament was almost over. She wondered if Harry would appreciate how much the three of them did together. If the boy was anything like Hermione portrayed him to be, and she would know better than anyone, then Harry was likely to congratulate them on this shared victory. If only he were here today, she would show him how much she herself has changed... how much the world can change.
They nodded to each other and brought their hands down as one. Three school Champions felt a tell-tale jerk behind their navels. Howling winds and swirls of color assaulted the winners, one and all.
A portkey.
-o\O/o-
"Vic? Fleur?" Cedric pulled himself up off of the ground to find both of his fellow abductees sweeping the nearby grounds with their wands, looking for any sign of who or what may have been responsible for their change of scenery. Taking the hint, Cedric palmed his wand and began to look around.
He immediately noticed that they were in some kind of graveyard. There were a few trees mixed between the graves at odd intervals. In one direction was a hill with a dark manor home, not a trace of life inside.
"Dis is not part of Tournament, I think." Cedric nodded immediately. "Fleur? Try apparate out now, please."
Fleur twisted in place for a moment. Nothing. She looked to Victor and shook her head.
"I agree. Headmistress Maxime told me zat touching ze cup was ze final step to victory. Zis portkey, it is trap for us. But, which one were they 'oping to get?" Fleur knew that hidden portkeys had been responsible for more than one disappearance in her family. With her being Veela and her father an important politician, the Delacour girls were well trained in avoiding strange objects. On the other hand, it was well known that she would be entering the maze last and would have had the smallest chance of reaching the cup first.
"Somevone is coming." Fleur and Cedric both spun to look at a figure that had been approaching from between the graves.
The figure, which appeared to be carrying some kind of bundle, had stopped abruptly. If it was the person responsible, catching all three Champions must have gone a long way towards upsetting their plans.
Cedric and Victor kept their eyes and wands firmly on the figure three rows away. Fleur turned slightly and looked by the nearest yew tree. Her aim followed her eyes.
"Zey are not alone. I zink I can 'ear someone by ze tree." Fleur focused as much as she could on sounds. She tossed a bluebell flame near the base of the tree, but no man nor woman stood in relief as far as she could see.
The other figure seemed to hesitate for a second before... mumbling?... and setting it's burden on the ground. A loud hissing noise filled the air, causing all three Champions to tense up.
As soon as a green glow began to build on the stranger's wand, both boys knew what to do.
"Avada-"
"Stupefy!" "Diffindo!"
Victor was quite pleased that his friend had remembered the wisdom he shared in training of Durmstrang's Dark Arts lessons: the best shield against the killing curse is to keep the enemy from finishing the incantation. The two word killing phrase is longer than most good fighting hexes and the caster will have to still be alive if he is to finish the second word.
Whatever Fleur was looking for must have taken that hissing noise as a signal. She finally caught sight of movement much closer than she was looking for it when a large snake suddenly reared into view and struck out.
"Infractus!"
Fleur's curse didn't stop her foe, but it did cause the massive snake to fly off target. Poison soaked fangs grated along Victor's shoulder instead of the soft skin of her neck as intended.
"...aaaAAAAUGHhhh..." Victor is no stranger to pain, as he is often the target of internationally known beaters as well as some of the more aggressive seekers, but the potent venom released onto his skin and into his blood was a new level of hurt beyond blunt force trauma.
Bright red flared over Cedric's hastily erected shield shortly followed by a hail of purple sparks from a second spell impact. Fleur stood between the snake and Victor, a stream of fire spells pouring out of her wand and forcing the snake to back out of striking range.
"Ve need to get out! Perhaps ve kill man den snake?" Small tremors were beginning to make Victor unsteady, but he held his wand firm and began to send more hexes and curses back towards their human opponent.
Fleur was about to respond when a second loud hiss was heard from near the figure's dropped burden. Fire or not, the snake was likely coming back.
Fleur's moment looking for the snake cost her as her other opponent switched strategies and summoned the outfit she was wearing.
As Cedric yelled out in dismay, Fleur sailed over two rows of tombstones and the snake made a second assault on Victor. It latched onto the Bulgarian's arm a few inches below the first wound and began squeezing for all it was worth. Victor's howl of pain broke Cedric of his momentary indecision. He instinctively chose to deal with the threat that was in arms reach and began to pump every curse he knew into the thick scaly hide of the beast crushing Victor's left humerus.
Fleur opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurry after that landing and a small line of fresh blood dripped down from her right temple to her shoulder.
Her first thought after regaining her senses was that tombstones hurt more than she thought they would. The French Champion began sliding her hand through the grass to her right hoping to feel the familiar wooden shaft of her wand, but it was not to be.
Two wands appeared before her face, one in each hand of their cloaked attacker, and one of them was hers.
"M- Master... please... l-let me keep this one... o- only for a little while. Master?"
Fleur heard another voice, but with two wands in pointed at her, she dare not look away. "We must hurry! You fools have almost cost me everything! Kill her and subdue the Diggory boy. Nagini can have the other."
They both thought that she was helpless.
Both were male voices. She was Veela.
Both of them were wrong.
Fleur Delacour released her allure to it's fullest extent. Silvery-blonde locks which had begun to soil in the fighting were suddenly as spotless and shiny as polished silver, each strand floating in an invisible wind. Her skin was pure and soft, forming feminine curves that were more perfect than any the cloaked man had ever seen.
When he looked into the Veela's eyes next, he was instantly lost in a crystal blue infinity. She was not human, nor was she mortal. Fleur Delacour was a Goddess among lesser beings, the very incarnation of Aphrodite.
"You wish to touch me, yes? To know me intimately?" The words were sweet and airy. Addictive. The cloaked man nodded dumbly yet his companion seemed to hiss in anger.
Fleur held on hand out, palm up. Her wand was immediately returned by the would-be rapist.
"We must make love under the stars by Black Lake. How do I get back to Hogwarts?" Words flowed from her perfect lips, causing the man to shudder in pleasure until he heard her last question.
The figure seemed to cringe. Was he trying to fight off her allure? Was fear overriding magical thrall?
Fleur pushed her nature as far as she could without physically changing. She didn't want the transformation to shatter her allure.
He seemed to settle down. "How do my friends and I leave?" One does not refuse their Goddess.
"P- p- p- portkey. I- it goes back just like it came here... " He then began mumbling phrases over and over, "you're sooo beautiful... ...I'm going to die... ...dead, I'll be... …an angel, I..."
He was no longer an issue, but she took his wand anyway. Hopefully this second voice was some sort of communication device and not another man. To hide from her after such a release of her allure would require rare power. Men who can resist Veela allure either make the very best of lovers or the very worst of masters.
Fleur loped back through the headstones to Cedric and Victor to find them both still alive, but in horrid condition. Blood was on the stones, the ground, even on both young men, but she did not see the snake. It was time for her to pull in her allure as not to further harm them.
"Finally ran the damn thing off." Cedric flinched and held his wand hand. "But the venom, I can feel it."
Fleur looked between both Victor and Cedric. Ced wasn't shaking like Victor, but he probably would be soon. Victor, on the other hand, was bad off. There was no sign of the Bulgarian's wand though he seemed to be unconsciously scraping the ground looking for it. He needed a healer now.
"Accio Victor's wand." Aside from hearing a loud hiss in the distance, no wand returned to the Veela.
"Vic jammed it into the damn snake's eye. I think that hurt it more than any of the curses I threw."
"Zen we need to go now. Zat man may recover soon and I forgot to check him for ozer wands. We should hold onto each ozer before I summon ze cup. If we touch it togezer again, we go back." Fleur visually searched the ground for the trophy cup. With several patches of burning grass littering the graveyard, she easily caught sight of the light reflecting off of the cup's crystal facets nearby.
"That simple? Why didn't we try that from the start, anyway?" Cedric grabbed Victor's shaking hand. Fleur stepped around the two bleeding boys. As she passed over Victor, her silver-blonde hair fell across his injuries and soaked up some of the venom tainted blood that was even now escaping through jagged holes in his arm. Her own blood dripped onto his body and down to the grass below. She placed a delicate hand over Cedric's, carefully insuring that she was in contact with both boys, and summoned the Triwizard Cup.
Soon, all three Champions felt the familiar tug behind their navels and the world became a swirl of colors and wind.
Maybe this portkey journey would mark the end of their troubles.
-o\O/o-
After near total silence in the graveyard, the cacophony outside of Hogwarts Castle was just another shock to the system for the returning students. The co-champions were now the center of attention for hundreds, if not thousands of people. Cedric and Fleur immediately added to the noise.
Albus Dumbledore reached the three Champions first, but many of the officials, staff and spectators began rushing to the obviously injured teens. Any semblance of order was lost when those nearer to the front began shouting back to their friends and associates about snakebites and an abduction of some sort.
"Not dead!?"
"No! But he looks to be near it!"
"Diggory?"
"Krum, but Cedric's hurt too! Even the French bird's bleeding!"
Hermione remained close to Alain and Apolline as the French Champion's father roughly shoved others out of their way to be at Fleur's side. Segolene had spent much of the tournament with the Delacours and Hermione, but was off with several other Beauxbatons students when the three champions did reappear. Hermione held Gabrielle's hand in hers to insure that the over-tired little girl would not get lost in the crowd. Tonight, Hermione was learning far more about how to swear in French than any of her family vacations or books had revealed in the past.
"-an attack! The cup was a portkey! But who-"
"-must have been after the girl! Heard something about her robes getting summoned with her in them!"
"Wish I'd thought o' that myself, actually!"
Alian paused for a moment. Hermione could see him glaring hard in the direction of that last comment. After learning another rather savage bit of French about what Alain would do to the unidentified man if they ever met again, he re-focused and started forcing a path through the crowd again.
Hermione noticed Apolline's demeanor change soon after they both caught sight of Madam Maxime not too far away. The Delacour mother began helping her husband clear a path through the thick knot of wizards and witches they had become a part of. Perhaps she had seen Fleur through the crowd too? Hermione looked down to Gabrielle after feeling a bit more of a tug on her hand.
The little Veela was barely hanging on. It was well past her bedtime and there had been very little to see from the stands, so Little Angel was nearly asleep on her feet. In her drowsy state, Gabrielle had begun rubbing the mark on her forehead not unlike Hermione saw Harry doing countless times in the past. For the hundredth time that night, Hermione glanced at the slim gold chain around Gabrielle's neck that disappeared down inside the little witch's robes. She had absolutely refused to come without Harry's wand. Made her feel safe, she said. Hermione couldn't help but agree as the polished wooden shaft had the same affect on her when she wore it.
Maybe she should ask Harry if he really did kiss Gabby there if she sees him in her dreams tonight. She hoped he would appear as this has been a very stressful night and would likely get more so.
"Make way! Make way!" Someone very near to them was clearing a path in the opposite direction. "Injured Champions and healers approaching so you lot can bloody well move back!"
Hermione got her first look at all three Champions. The crowd shifted to allow Headmaster Karkarov and a pair of floating beds attended to by Madam Pomfrey and several other healers angle past her position on their way to the castle. Hermione briefly noted that Fleur was only a few meters away now and surrounded by two Headmasters, several ministry officials and a handful of aurors. Fleur was alternately yelling and being yelled at by a man in a bowler hat as she carried the Triwizard Cup under her left arm. If the cup was a portkey then someone must have already checked to ensure it wouldn't work again. Despite the blood clearly present on Fleur's head, Hermione's attention snapped to her other close friends who occupied the floating beds.
Cedric looked like he was beginning to shake, but otherwise seemed alert and active. Mister Diggory kept pace with his son's bed and glanced over to his son's bandaged right hand every few seconds or so. It looked like he was in need of a healer himself... or more likely a stiff drink. Cho Chang was also at Cedric's side. She latched onto his bed and kept sobbing in between demands that he not ever do that to her again. Cho quickly grew tired of matching the bed's pace and hopped on to better cover his mouth with her own. While Hermione noted that Cedric wasn't about to refuse Cho's kiss, he was clearly not returning the pretty Ravenclaw's affections as fully as he could have. The healer nearby clearly had a problem with Cho's impropriety and threatened to draw her wand unless the young miss removed herself from Cedric's person.
Girl troubles or no, Cedric was clearly on the road to recovery so Hermione felt free check the second bed. Oh. Oh, no. He looked... thankfully not as bad as Harry did four months ago when she snuck into the tent by Black Lake, but... he looked very bad off. Victor's face was pale and the skin around the exposed wounds was turning an ugly shade of purple. He seemed to be sleeping but a spasm would pass through his muscular frame every few seconds or so. Two healers by his side maintained constant charmswork over the bed as they passed through the crowds. The healers were a good sign to Hermione. Their continued actions meant that Victor must have a chance to recover.
Hermione would never forget seeing Headmaster Dumbledore give up on Harry in favor of helping Madam Maxime heal a bloody Gabrielle.
Suddenly she was moving again. Alain had taken advantage of the break in the crowd to pull his women, Hermione included, the few remaining steps to his eldest daughter.
"Maman!" Fleur dropped the trophy and lept at her mother. The silver-blonde Veela then began crying hard enough to make Cho look tame. Her tears were soon joined by her mother's as the woman began to console her firstborn.
Fleur's trip through hell tonight now includes being accused alternately of attacking the two male champions herself and/or making up parts of the story about a supposed 'Master' who was never seen. Cedric was quite firm in shooting down everything that the rather toad-ish Ministry witch kept accusing Fleur of. The bitch even had the nerve to call Fleur a half-breed in front of everyone a minute ago. Madam Maxime was maintaining her composure, but easily found a way to return every insult and accusation with a skill that would have impressed Headmaster Dumbledore had he not been trying his very best to maintain order and prevent an international incident. There was also the concern of who this 'Master' was that Fleur spoke of. Albus could hazard a guess but there was nothing useful in their story aside from everything happening in a graveyard. It should be a small matter to get Mister Diggory's memory of the event. Miss Delacour's memory would be vital though.
Ludo Bagman picked up the forgotten cup, flicked off a rather plump looking beetle and began to clean off any dirt that he could find. His frown was more for the one dilemma he had to put to rest tonight as the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. How do you award one cup to three competitors? It would have been better if they had just let him declare Fleur the winner as he attempted to do when the Champions first arrived. She clearly had sole possession of the Triwizard Cup at the time. As an added bonus, he had a side bet on the bird with very long odds. That would have been his biggest score in years. Then the Veela and Cedric spin their tale of abduction and poisonous snakes and he has three winners in stead of one. Fuck.
"A tie then. No other way to do it with their story." Ludo looked to the two remaining school heads who both nodded. Karkarov would have agreed and they knew it. "We'll have the cup rotate between schools or something... and split the prize money three ways as well."
As Apolline and Fleur continued to moisten each other's shoulders, Alain stepped forward and began demanding an explanation. Hermione found herself alternately holding Gabrielle steady, listening to the explanation Alain was receiving and wondering at the glare sent her way by a rather ugly witch.
Professor Snape appeared from behind the Headmaster and whispered something into his ear. It seemed to be a quick message but an important one as Albus seemed to lose his color and looked down to Snape's arm for a moment. Snape only nodded in response.
"Please attend to your duties with utmost care, Severus. I shall expect to see you as soon as possible afterwards." The Potions Master turned sharply and left in haste. For a moment, Professor Snape clutched at his left forearm briefly as he moved away. Albus looked around the group of officials and security personnel. Alastor Moody was still unaccounted for as he had been since the Champions returned wounded.
When Apolline began to move Fleur away from the officials, Hermione dutifully followed with Gabby in tow. As they stepped away from those in charge of the proceedings, Hermione missed the harsh glare being cast her way by the Ministry bitch. The woman rubbed her thumb over a medallion hanging from a heavy chain about her neck.
For several minutes, the Delacour women plus Hermione moved out of the excited and gaping crowd until a suitably quiet spot could be found at the far end of the stands. Segolene had seen the group leave the crowds and was now adding her tears to Fleur's damp shoulder.
"Where are we?" Gabrielle appeared to be getting a second wind. The hard candy pop now forming a bulge in her cheek may have something to do with it. Gabrielle dropped onto her butt in the grass and began to scratch an ankle.
"We're behind the stands, Gabby. Your mum and Fleur needed a bit more peace than they were getting in there." The grass actually looked soft to Hermione, so she joined Gabby in her new game of plucking individual grass blades and tearing them in to smaller and smaller pieces.
A cool breeze was beginning to pick up.
While Fleur was calming down on the walk out, she, Segolene and her mother all began to cry harder again. Hermione dug her hands into her armpits and shook in the cold. Funny, it wasn't supposed to be so cold tonight.
Gabrielle stopped tearing grass blades apart when she saw something approaching in the darkness. Four dark somethings. She drew her knees up and hugged them with one hand while scratching her forehead. It was going all ticklish again.
Hermione noticed Segolene and the older Delacour women hold each other tighter and begin to shake. Something was wrong. Before her sharp mind could connect the dots, Hermione began to hear Gabrielle wailing, only she could clearly see Gabrielle wasn't moving her mouth. Then a memory began to overlap her vision. It was the Second Task all over again in her mind. Shaking and tearing up, Hermione turned around to see a line of Dementors come up to the four witches.
"GO AWAY!"
A bright white flash of light shocked Hermione out of her panicky thoughts of soul death. When she looked behind her, Hermione saw Gabrielle standing with Harry's wand out and pointed at the Dementors who sought to feed on them. Hermione turned around again to see what kind of spell 'allez vous-en' would turn out to be.
It was a patronus. A magnificent fully corporeal being of light was running, yes running, after the dementors who had all turned to flee. After tackling one of the soul eating dark creatures and roughing it up some, the patronus turned back to his charges and returned to his caster. The threat, however dire, was now over.
When he got close enough, the patronus looked over to Hermione. It was a boy her age, with glasses. Glasses and a corporeal lighting bolt shaped scar on his head. Gabrielle had used common French words to summon a Harry Potter patronus.
Patronus Harry seemed to smile and wave at her before walking through the three sobbing older witches. He came out the other side a little dimmer, but also in sharper focus. Fleur, Segolene and Apolline all quieted down and began to look around. When they also spotted Patronus Harry, he smiled and walked up to Hermione who was still quite leaky in the eyes.
Before she could pull it together enough to tell a patronus that she loved him, he stepped through her as well. Oh, wow. Hermione felt a wave of warmth, love and happiness flood through her completely removing the dark taint that the soul eaters had left behind. Hermione turned to see Patronus Harry kneel down in front of Gabrielle with a big smile on his face. He was dimmer again but in perfect relief. That's what Harry would look like if he were a ghost and not a patronus.
"Brilliant work, Gabby! Utterly brilliant!" He talked! "I never knew you could say something else when casting... Flitwick and McGonagall are going to be in for a shock when they hear about this."
"Harry!?" He looked back over at Hermione who was now crying entirely different tears than before.
"Yeah, 'Mione?" He smirked that smirk of his. "Oh! Thanks for sending my wand to Gabby, here, Love. An excellent move on your part, but then you are brilliant... always loved that about you."
He used the word. Twice. "I love you, Harry Potter. I love you! I'm sooooo sorry I n-never got to s-say that w-when you were alive." The girl fell to her knees and just stared at him with tear tracks glistening down both cheeks.
"And I love you, Hermione Granger. Why is it that Gryffindor courage failed me so thoroughly when I should have told you that before? I mean with all of those things we did togeth-" Harry looked back to in the direction of the crowds. "Oh, dear. The masses must have figured out that we were hoarding all of the peril over here."
A large group of people were approaching, a furious Alain Delacour and a curiously pleased Albus Dumbledore at the head of the group. The women ignored them completely to focus on the ghost before them.
"You came outside! Yay!" Gabrielle went for a Harry Hug and fell right through him. Giggling she got up and did it again. "That tickles!"
"That's right Gabby. I'm outside now. I think I can be both out here and in there pretty much as needed. Maybe. You kind of showed me the door when you told those blighters to sod off."
"Harry! Language!" She may have gotten a piece of Harry back, but Hermione was clearly going to have to keep him in line just as she did before.
"Sorry, 'Mione. Won't happen again." His pout may have been transparent, but it still softened her up some.
"Love you, Harry!" Gabby was full of energy, nearly dancing in place. With Harry out and about, this night's schedule had now been shot to hell.
"Love you too, Little Angel! And thanks again for saving Hermione here from the Dementors. Really. She's going to have to do something about those things. Two years in a row... honestly."
"Thank you, Mister Potter. You saved us all, Gabrielle for the second time now, and I'm still not sure how..." The three older witches had come up to the spirit. Were he a solid being, he'd be in the middle of a massive Veela-Bookworm group hug. Clearly Gabrielle had already proven that such a thing wouldn't work. "What does my Little Angel mean, Harry? Outside?"
"An excellent question, Madam Delacour. I think a great many people would like to hear how Mister Potter came to be 'outside' and where he was before." Headmaster Dumbledore spoke up once he was within a few paces of Harry and the Delacours. Seems like the plump beetle which had been flicked off of the Triwizard Cup by Bagman was looking for sustenance in Albus's beard.
Alain pulled his wife into a tight embrace which their girls quickly joined. Clearly they would be out of the conversation for some time. Hermione was left alone to gaze at Harry until Gabrielle ran over to her and pulled her back to the family hug. Gabby must have adopted her as a new big sister. Fleur grabbed Segolene and puller her in the same way.
"Sorry to disappoint, but that's going to be between me, 'Mione and the Delacours." Harry floated over to face the Headmaster who now stood at the head of a group of wizards and witches several hundred strong. Shouts of 'Potter's Ghost' and 'Harry's Back' were being thrown further back into the crowd causing several men to run off to spread the news. It's seems a sure bet that tomorrows Daily Prophet would be full of big news. Whether anything that was printed would resemble the truth was still open to debate.
"Then perhaps you can tell me how Hogwarts came to be your new home? Or perhaps how you were able to drive off dementors? That is not a talent ghosts are known to have." As Albus asked his questions, that angry ugly woman from before stood to the side as her boss came forward.
"Harry! Good to see you again, boy! Very good to see you again. I can't say I like the circumstances... terrible night we're having, but it should be over soon." Minster Fudge almost reached out to shake Harry's hand before remembering that the lad was a ghost and couldn't do that now. He settled for adjusting his hat.
"Hello again Minister. I'll have to agree on the night. It can't be good for Fleur here to come back from an attempted kidnapping and Lord knows what else only to be assaulted by Dementors. Did you know they were here, Sir?" Harry peered into Minister Fudge's eyes. Fudge briefly looked back at his assistant before turning back to Harry. A lot of people were going to hear about this. He just knew Monsieur Delacour would make a big scandal of it when he got back to France.
"The Dementors were being held in the local forest in case of an attack similar to the World Cup over last summer. New defensive plans you see... never can tell with Black on the loose... perhaps next time these lovely ladies will seek a more reasonable location to have their witch talk when odd things are afoot." Hermione found she didn't much care for this Minister's logic. Wait a tic. If that's Minister Fudge, then that horrid woman next to him might be-
"Delores, the Dementors are behaving, are they not?" He looked back to her again. Delores Umbridge shot a quick glare at Hermione before plastering a smile on her face.
"Yes, Minister." She ran a finger over the heavy medallion dangling from her bosom. "They are all in the forests just to the north now. Perhaps they caught a bit of Black's trail from the year before when they happened on these... ladies... and thought they were onto something. Surely they weren't in any real danger? The Dementors only Kiss when we tell them to after all." Hermione really did not like this woman.
Harry looked back at the Veela sandwich Hermione had gotten herself into and smiled.
"Mister Potter, perhaps we should try this again. How did you drive off the dementors?" Albus was being insistent. Harry, now knowing a fair amount about the last few months from dreamscape talks with his girls, wasn't the obedient boy Albus may remember. Death can do that. Hearing Hermione point out how often the headmaster would interfere in Harry's affairs even after his death can do that too.
"Do you mind? I'm having a moment here and it's the most loving sense of belonging and family I can ever remember witnessing." Hermione looked up into Harry's eyes, the tears kept flowing, but she wasn't wailing any longer.
The Headmaster wisely held back on questioning his relationship with the Dursleys. If Harry answered poorly, reporters would overhear.
"Harry, you have saved my Little Angel again. You have now saved me and my firstborn as well. Our family will be in your debt for eternity, I swear it." Apolline was shaking, but had managed to control her voice.
"Tell you what… let me spend time with Gabby and your family whenever I want and we'll call it even."
"My home is yours and it will never be even. We owe you too much." Alain finally managed to break free of his family.
"I am afraid, Mister Potter, that ghosts have never been so free roaming as that. I believe that as you died here, were buried here and became a ghost here that you will always be here… at Hogwarts." Albus tried to sound apologetic, but he couldn't have been more pleased with this turn of events. The Boy Who Lived may have perished, but if his ghost still calls Hogwarts home, then there may yet be hope for the future. Perhaps the prophesy is still valid?
Harry almost growled at the Headmasters proclamation. His head swung around to the two young witches who meant so much to him that he would punch soul eating demons in the face. Harry's gaze passed briefly over a worried Hermione and a somewhat less happy Gabby. If he stayed here, then he wouldn't get to see them grow up. Wait a minute…
"I don't believe you Headmaster." Albus didn't have to fake his surprise.
"Oh? And why not?" Harry figured he knew his own circumstances a bit better than the Headmaster.
"I died holding Gabrielle. I died kissing her. When I died I gave everything I was to Gabrielle so that she may live. I came into being in this form as a sort of ghost-patronus or something to protect her. If anything I am tied to Gabby assuming I can't just go where ever I please."
"And who, may I ask, cast the patronus?" Albus would have his Charms Master look into this. Perhaps Filius knew something about the patronus charm and related spells that could be connected back to Albus's knowlegde of ghost abilities.
"I did!" Finally! Gabby wanted to say something too, but they were all just talking over her head. Not now!
"I told the things to go away and Harry jumped out of my wand and made them go away! He does that, you know... saves little girls from monsters. Saved Hermione from a troll before he was twelve too! Harry's great! I bet you didn't save anybody from a troll when you were eleven, but I beat Harry. Harry, I beat you by saving Hermione before I was nine. Are you going to go back in time and save her when you were seven or five? I bet you could." She pulled her Harry wand out and used it to scratch at an itch in her hair.
"Gabrielle Marion Delacour! A wand is not for scratching your head with!" Apolline knew well that Gabrielle could get that wand to work and had no wish to see the girl magic herself to pieces. "That wand is a necklace only for the rest of the night!"
"Sorry, Momma." Gabrielle pulled her outer robes out from her chest and dropped the wand back into place before idly scratching her forehead. The wand necklace suddenly seemed very familiar to some of the adults and students near the front of the crowd.
"Aren't you a little young to be running about with a wand, Miss?" Minister Fudge eyed the little girl nervously. As she was obviously one of Monsieur Delacour's, Fudge knew that the girl was here with diplomatic credentials. Just as well, the Prophet's likely to do more harm to them than the Wizengamot could.
"While my daughter clearly needs to learn the difference between a wand and a comb, I am very pleased with what she has done with that wand tonight." Her Poppa's words made Gabrielle blush. "Now, If you would excuse me, my family is in need of rest and I have much work ahead of me. Our Ministry must know of what has transpired here tonight."
After some more official good nights, Alain finally set his women on the trail to Hogsmeade. Those who had yet to leave the fields continued to stare and gawk at Harry Potter, The Boy Who Came Back, but none seemed to have the courage to approach him yet. He was quite thankful for this as there were still things he needed to discuss with Monsieur Delacour.
Albus watched in disappointment as Harry successfully crossed out of Hogwarts grounds and onto the trail to Hogsmeade. Perhaps the boy was right about his connection to the little Delacour girl.
"Sir."
"Please call me Alain, Harry."
"Alain. Headmaster Dumbledore is paying entirely too much attention to Gabby right now, Sir. I think… I think perhaps you should take your girls back to France as soon as possible. All three of them."
As Alain watched, Segolene began pushing chocolate into Fleur's mouth. Fleur was just beginning to act normally for the first time since she prepared to enter the maze hours ago.
"Perhaps, Harry… we should see to all five of our women?" Alain nodded his head to the side. Harry followed Alain's gaze past the hoards of shocked and confused spectators to once again see Madam Umbridge staring daggers into Hermione.
"Bugger… maybe you're right sir, but I don't know if I can get Hermione out of Hogwarts quick enough."
"It's Alain, Harry, and I think she would die tonight if you asked her to." As if sensing that Harry and Monsieur Delacour were discussing her, Hermione looked up at the man and spirit. Harry saw it in her eyes. She would.
Harry had to try something. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't.
"Dobby!"
-POP-
The excitable house elf looked like he was about to praise the Gods or suffer a heart attack.
"Oh! It's-"
"Shhhhhhhh!" Dobby froze the second Harry shushed him. The elf appeared to be waiting for leave to breathe. "Yes. It's me. Dobby, can you discreetly collect all of Hermione's things? All of her things that she does not have with her right now?"
Dobby shook his head in the affirmative.
"Can you get her things to the Delacour family elves without letting anyone know what you're doing?"
Dobby paused for a moment, but nodded to that request as well.
"Please do so, Dobby. I would really appreciate it if you could do this for me."
Dobby mouthed out 'Dobby will do as the Great Harry Potter Sir asks' before meekly leaving.
-POP-
"Such an unusual house elf. However did you meet him?" Alain was shocked that an elf would answer the call of a ghost, but then again he'd never heard of a ghost calling for an elf's attention before.
"I'd be delighted to tell you all about Dobby tomorrow. Now, Si- Alain... If you don't mind, I'd like to check up on Cedric and Victor. I think the girls would feel better if I could tell them how things are going with those two."
Alain nodded his approval and moved to be closer to his women. "I think I can protect them well enough in your absence. We'll be floo-ing to France as soon as we enter the rental home, I promise. We'll leave the clean-up to the elves and they'll be happier for it." He showed Harry the wand held firmly in hand.
"Thank you Sir, I won't be long. And I meant what I said about Gabby earlier... I think you will be seeing quite a lot of me in the future, Sir- er, Alain."
The older man laughed. "Anytime, Harry. Feel free to spend as much time as you like with my family... and I want to hear about that elf!"
Harry drifted closer to Hermione.
"'Mione. I'm going up to the Hosptial wing to check up on Cedric and Victor, okay?" She smiled and nodded her approval. "I'll be back with you and Gabby soon as I can be. Promise. Now can you promise me that you'll do what Alain tells you to do for the rest of the night? It's important."
Little more than four months ago, Hermione would have scoffed at such a request without explanation. Tonight was different. Harry had come back for her and he loved her and he asked her to stay with Fleur and Gabby.
"I don't like it when you leave me, Harry." She was sad, yes, but Hermione had shed her last tear for the night already.
"I never left you, 'Mione. Never happened."
"Can I have a kiss first?"
"Me too! I want a Harry kiss too. I've only had one so far." Gabby was going to be trouble when they finally got her in a bed tonight... or was it already morning?
Harry zipped down and gave Gabby a light peck on the head. Same spot. She bust out giggling.
"Tickles! I want Harry kisses every night." Harry smiled before drifting over to Hermione.
"Not on the forehead, Harry. Or the cheek. Kiss me proper. Please?" Harry's smile wasn't quite as bright as for Gabby, but it was a lot warmer. A ghostly blush crossed over Harry's cheeks.
As he drew closer to Hermione, she tilted her head to one side and let her eyelids drop just a little. Harry matched her actions before delicately connecting his being to hers.
Tingly.
"Oh, it just breaks my heart! How beautiful." Segolene teared up at the rarest and most tender kiss she had ever been witness too. "Romance novels are written about such things, but they fall short of the truth."
Apparently all of the ladies agreed as even Gabrielle had a look of awe on her face and the others were leaking at the eyes again.
Harry was going to have to figure out how he knew what Segolene said. She said it in French, he was sure of that, but for some reason he still understood every word.
"Take care of my girls, Alain. I'll see you all later!" And with those words, Harry Potter leapt straight up and seemed to adopt the path of a broomrider. The speed too if the few faint cries of random witches and wizards further away were any indication.
No-one noticed a lone beetle take flight. A few minutes later, when a woman seemed to appear behind some bushes yet well inside Hogwarts wards, one person did notice. A wizard carrying a camera came out of hiding and began to discuss his evening with the witch in hushed tones.
-o\O/o-
"You weak fool!" The Master's voice called out from the cloaked man's wrapped burden.
"I... I beg your forgiveness, Master! She enticed me! Her Veela allure was too strong... I... what must we do?" The cloaked man was on his knees groveling before the bundle.
"You will continue as planned. Use my wand if you can't get the boy's to work for you. If you fail me here, then Nagini will be well fed and I'll be rid of your failure." The man cringed and removed his cloak to better prepare things.
"Wormtail. There is plenty of blood on the ground and stones to collect. Don't take the Veela's blood! There is no telling how that could affect the potion." Peter Pettigrew nodded. He wouldn't want to run the risk of becoming a woman or even a mix of both sexes either.
The spineless Gryffindor collected his burden and moved him near a large stone cauldron.
"Hurry! This body will not support me for much longer." Barely holding the panic and dread at bay, Peter used Victor Krum's wand to light a fire under the cauldron. It wasn't a perfect match for him, but the wand would work for simple tasks.
As soon as sparks began dancing over the surface of the unfinished potion inside, Peter removed the childlike form of his Master from the cloth bundle. After flinching from a malevolent glare cast by the snake-faced child with red eyes, Peter dropped Lord Voldemort's current shell into the potion.
He raised his wand high.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"
Dust came up from a grave nearby. The headstone read 'Tom Riddle'. The potion hissed and sparked and changed colors as they tend to do. After a brief inspection of the surface, Peter continued.
Now for the hard part.
"Flesh – of the servant – w-willingly given – you will – revive – your master."
Peter screamed loud and clear as the blade he carried passed through his own hand, cutting it clean off of his body. Fear can make you do terrible things.
With a small splash, the severed hand joined Tom Riddle's remains in Peter's dark potion. He wailed for just a moment, but only a moment. His Master needed him to perform the ritual properly and on time.
Peter staggered around to point in the general direction Nagini's battle with the two young men before continuing. Victor's wand again held high.
"B-blood of the enemy... forcibly taken... you will... resurrect your foe."
Long thin ribbons of blood began to pool together above the ground into an amorphous blob. The mix was far from pure though no dirt or mud came with it. Different blood types began to fight against each other and a small amount of snake venom attacked all blood without bias.
Peter directed his last ingredient into the great stone cauldron and collapsed. Sparks erupted bright enough to force the injured man to shield his eyes with a bloody stump. The sparking jet of magical light extinguished itself in a great cloud of steam.
Something moved.
"Robe me."
End Chapter
Author's Note:
Some of you have already asked why Sirius and the Weasley clan have been mostly absent from this story. I had planned on dealing with some of them in this chapter, but the Third Task became it's own independent chapter very quickly. This means that Harry's dogfather and a cloud of redheads will show up for sure next time.
It's kind of obvious that Hermione currently worships the ground Harry floats over. Harry will want her to be happy in the future, right? Expect Harry to try to get Hermione interested in other boys even if he doesn't start right away. I refuse to say if his efforts will be in vain.
Reviews or some of them anyway... There are entirely too many to respond to every one of them, so I'll thank all of you together and pick a few to respond to in particular.
Everyone who reviewed Chapter Two: Thank you. Really.
How many of you spotted my date/year errors? I had two or three reviews comment on one apiece before I realized it was a standard error for me to make pretty much every time. I blame the fact that I am also writing another HP fic that runs in year six and it's screwing with my perception of time. I think I've got it now.
I'll say again that the only relationship that's etched in stone is Harry/Gabby. What I do promise is that the relationships will develop as proper relationships without sudden changes or backstabby bitchiness. By the mid-point or perhaps the ¾ point, it should be clearer where our characters' hearts lie or even if some may still be unattached until the Epilogue.
The Franco-phile England bashing. Think of it as me picking away at all of the dark flaws in Rowling's British Ministry of Magic. There are a lot of them! I'm not going to make France into Super-France, but they do look better in comparison. Robo-France could be cool in another story, but not this one.
Dumbles is a powerful man, but my take on that is that his positions are due in large part to his defeat of Grindelwald back before he decided that the Greater Good was his personal project. Back room political dealings took him the rest of the way to his current status. Maybe. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I think I'm going to set up Joan of Arc as France's most revered witch. The French would surely put her and Nicholas Flamel ahead of that damned Englishman Merlin, right? Hermione won't be completely free of prejudice, but it will be more civil. The French remember this thing... you may have heard of it... the Hundred Years' War? No, Hitler wasn't involved in that one.
Alorkin – People don't always review in length and detail enough to have their review considered a chapter on their own. That was impressive. I'm quite happy to read over your review and find that I agree with the vast majority of your comments. I may not follow you or agree on a point or two, but that's small potatoes. Thanks a bunch.
DukeBrymin (and the DragonBard for similar content) – I've used Ginny very sparingly and will continue to keep her in the background for the most part. I don't mean to dump on her, but even in the original books it took Ginny years to be anything more than the biggest fangirl ever. If I get the chance, I'll round her out some more.
PerfesserN – I don't know French outside of specific internet research. It would really suck if I tried to use too much of ze language. Ze accent is not 'ard to write, no? And ze italics are like magic for making we uncultured brutes understand ze Delacour ladies.
wordhammer – I can't say I agree with you completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I hope to steer you to my way of thinking by the end even if you don't know what my way of thinking is yet.
fledge – Like you said, there are almost half a million HP fanfics on this one sight alone. It boggles the mind. How can anything be new and fresh now? Amazingly, it can be. I blame my ability to find a unique plot on the story my Mom sometimes tells about how Dad dropped me once as a baby. Yes, there was head bounce. Stop laughing already. You see? My brain – it be werkin differents. Looks like I'll never catch all the slip-ups, but you should see the crap I screen out before publishing. Some really embarrassing stuff in that pile.